•STATISTICS indicate that deforestation and forest degradation account for an estimated 20 per cent of greenhouse gases worldwide.
By CHUSA SICHONE –
SUSTAINABLE management of Zambia’s natural resources and environment is critical for Zambia’s social and economic development, particularly with respect to land preservation.
Land is one of the factors of productions which is important and should be safe guarded because all activities take place on it.
It is however, undoubtedly Government’s commitment to protect, preserve, and maintain land, as it (land) is one of the most important natural resources.
However, Government alone cannot manage to be present in every part of Zambia, particularly in rural areas, hence the promotion of Public Private Partnership (PPP).
Under the PPP arrangement and the realisation that the private sector participation plays a key role in national development, Sable Transport Limited saw it fit to promote conservation of natural resources in Rufunsa District.
Sable Transport Limited managing director Iqbal Alloo said it was the company’s commitment to partner with private entities specialised in projects that achieve national goals to reduce the country’s carbon footprint and carbon emissions for the benefit of the country as a whole.
It is for that reason that Sable Transport Limited signed an Investment Agreement with other stakeholders to implement the Lower Zambezi Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) Project.
According to United Nations Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation, REDD is a climate change mitigation strategy that aims to curb the destruction of the world’s forests.
It attempts to create a financial value for the carbon that is stored in and sequestrated by forests, offering a real incentive for emerging economies in Africa and elsewhere to stop destroying their forested areas.
Statistics indicate that deforestation and forest degradation account for an estimated 20 per cent of Green House Gases (GHG) worldwide.
The United Nations Forum Convention on Climate Change believes that to constrain the climate change impacts within tolerable limits, mitigation actions should strive to stabilise average global temperatures with two degrees Celsius.
However, that will be impossible to achieve without reducing emissions from the forest sector.
Kenya is one of the countries in Africa where the REDD programme dubbed Kasigau Corridor REDD+ Corridor Project has proven to be successful.
The Kasigau Corridor REDD+ Corridor Project protects more than 200,000 hectares of highly threatened forest, strives to bring employment and direct carbon financing benefits to thousands of people who reside within the Kasigau area, among other benefits.
The Lower Zambezi REDD+ Project is currently being implemented on Rufunsa Conservancy, which is owned by Sable Transport Limited and the project is designed to protect areas of intact forest within the Lower Zambezi ecosystem.
The project has for the past two years engaged hundreds of households in several community programmes designed to reduce poverty, improve local livelihoods and reduce dependence on commercial charcoal production and other deforestation activities.
There has also been an investment in projects such as a conservation farming training programme, Zambia’s first community-based pilot sustainable charcoal project, a community school support programme, livestock development support, borehole refurbishment, and active local community job creation and training.
The project is being developed and operated according to the Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) and the Climate, Community and Biodiversity Alliance (CCBA) Standard, which monitor and ensure that the project activities achieve positive impacts on local communities and the environment.
The Lower Zambezi REDD+ Project is being piloted on 38,781 hectares of land and according to Mr Alloo, the Project is an innovative and transformational development model combining rural economic development with environmental conservation financed through the carbon markets.
Mr Alloo said preservation of the land would ultimately lead to trading of forest carbon on the international market and the project was being monitored by international parties to ensure that it meets the REDD+ validation standards.
Given that background, it is surprising to note why villagers in Rufunsa District resisted when Mr Alloo discouraged them from indiscriminately cutting down of trees for charcoal when Lands, Natural Resources, and Environmental Protection Minister Harry Kalaba visited the area on January 10.
“If you support this project, it will improve and diversify your livelihoods,” Mr Alloo said attracting murmurs from the crowd.
Mr Kalaba said he would ensure that the charcoal-laden truck whose owners had abandoned was impounded as Government was not going to condone indiscriminate cutting down of trees.
He warned that once the law was strengthened, those in the business charcoal would be prosecuted if they were found doing so without a permit.
“You need to start getting permits for you to deal in charcoal. Indiscriminate cutting down of trees you did not plant is a crime and the Patriotic Front Government is serious about this issue of cutting down of trees for charcoal.
“We are tightening the law. Very soon a new Forestry Act and Timber regulation will be out. You will come to learn that it will be a very big offence if you are found with charcoal without a permit,” he said.
Mr Kalaba’s warning was simply to reaffirm Government’s commitment to protecting, preserving and maintaining land.
Scientists have proven that without trees, there is no life because trees provide Oxygen, which is essential for the existence of life.
It is, therefore, important that the citizenry in general support efforts aimed at protecting, preserving and maintaining land from bad practices such as deforestation and forest degradation if the Lower Zambezi REDD+ is to yield its intended results.
